Alice: The Madness of Wonderland
by 11Pockystix11
Summary: LOTS OF SPOILERS! White rabbit in her world? Is wonderland breaking through to Alices world? "No no Alice! Wonderland is quite real!" What does he mean by this? Alice must figure how to get back to wonderland, it appears it won't be so easy this time. Mean while, she must find a way to save the Doctors former patients from destruction of his work, is there anything she can do?
1. Chapter 1

**One.**

Alice sighed, feeling a release in her soul. She was free... at last.  
Free of Dr. Bumbys' control over her mind. She held her head high, breathing in free air as she walked down the streets of London, leaving behind Moorgate train station and the monster that had just perished there. Her mind was sharp and more in control then it had been in such a long time.  
She would have to be careful not to get found out by the law. If she couldn't cover her tracks of the Doctors "death", they'd be sure to lock her up for life  
She'll really have to stay on her toes now.

"_I'm sure they're looking any reason to throw me back into the Asylum and this would give them the perfect opportunity. Perhaps, I'd acted too rashly..." _at the back of her mind were faint traces of regret.  
She could see the headlines now, if they found her out: **"Mad woman murders caring doctor."** 'No!' she said aloud.  
"_I acted rightly. Who knows how far he would have gone, how powerful he would have become... He would have become untouchable. I did the right thing... I know I did. I stopped so many others from suffering the same fate as myself and his former patients.."_  
She scoffed snidely. 'I wonder if there is any justice in this world...' she shook her head in disgust.  
"_The bastard deserved his end and worse! After all the damage he'd done."_ A deep scowl pinched her features, eyes glaring at the ground and her feet stamping furiously on the cobblestones.  
"_My actions __were__ justified! He did deserve it, for destroying mine and my familys' life. For burning down our house... for what he did... to Lizzie..."_ At this thought, she slowed and stopped, the scowl melting away to a frown.  
A lump formed in her throat and she began to feel the sting of tears welling in her eyes. Pain grew in her chest. It was a pain that was somewhat familiar but also a new type of pain, that she couldn't quite describe. It was loss. It was emptiness. But most of all it was complete and utter despair.  
Her legs suddenly weakened, knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. She sat hunched, kneeling ungracefully, her entire body becoming wracked in grievous sobs that had started as small hiccups and gasps, but then morphed into louder sobs and despaired crying.  
She wrapped her arms around herself, gently swaying back and forth, struggling to fight back the tears, but the more she tried the louder her sobs became and the more tears spilled down her cheeks. She stayed there undisturbed for quite some time.  
Her crying echoed around her in the close, deserted street. Time continued to pass and the tears felt as though they'd never stop.


	2. Chapter 2

Two.

Finally, slowly, the sobs began to subside and the pain in her heart also let up a little.  
She rubbed her eyes, but as soon as she'd lowered her hand more tears took the place of the ones she'd wiped away. She rubbed furiously at her eyes until they stung. She grabbed the hem of her apron and bunched it up, burying her face into the linen. She waited for the tears to stop fully and for the hiccups and sobs to get under her control again.  
Alice then lifted her head from the now crumpled and dampened apron. She hurt all over, her thoat and chest was sore, her eyes raw and her head was pounding. She was getting a cramp in her back, and her legs were going numb from having sat there unmoving for so long.

Placing her hands on the cold stone ground, she pushed herself up off the cobblestone floor. Standing awkwardly, she took a moment to keep her balance before starting on her way again.  
The evening was growing late and she had to eat and get some rest. There was so much she had to do. Like the orphans, the other patients of Dr. Bumby... what could she do for them?... Should she even try to do anything for them? Would _they _do the same in her situation...? or leave this place and forget everything. Just... just pretend it never happened...?  
'No.. I can't just pretend it never happened and by rights, I can't just leave the others end up how the Doctor intended. On the streets begging for scraps, selling themselves into slavery and prostitution. No, I don't want that and I can't let them fall to that. Not after beating Dr. Bumby. That'd be letting him win, by essentially continuing his work in ruining peoples lives.  
Stumbling down the street, she was nearing the orphanage formerly run by Dr. Bumby.  
She was begining to feel rather dizzy. "_Ohh.. all that crying did me no good" _Her stomach growled loudly, hunger pains wretched her insides. Alice threw a hand over her tummy, maybe hoping to stave off the hunger or the noise, or perhaps both.  
Her head was overloaded. She was on her last ounce of energy. "_I must get to the Orphanage. I need to lie down, before I fall-" _she stumbled, something caught her foot and she fell to the ground with a hard thump. She groaned, her energy sapping more and more. With an effort she pushed herself up with one hand and turned to get a looked at what had tripped her up. A loose cobblestone had trapped her foot. Alice pulled up her foot, fully dislodging the cobblestone from the ground and gave it a frustrated kick. It skidded away from her. She rose and started walking only to fall again, this time she'd forgotten to put her foot out far enough in front of her. Just before she hit the stone ground again, a hand grabbed her arm firmly. Alice whipped her eyes to the person who'd caught her.  
'Nan-'  
'Dont you "nan" me! What do think you're doin' girl?! Out here drunk off yer' head! I hope yer' not trying to take after that drunken old fool, Pris! Are you? Put yerself in real danger here, Alice! I thought you knew better! Do you know how late in the evening its gettin'? Yes, just about the right time for perverts and creepers prowlin' for inocent and vulnerable girls, like yerself!-' Alice tried to pull away and make a smart sounding come back about how _of coarse_ she knew better! But she lost her footing again, making the pull weak and girlish. She felt like a stroppy teenager with no sense. It didn't matter, Nan Sharpe had a good grip on her.  
'Nan, I am _not_ drunk! I do know better, I.. I'm just a little ... tired' her eyes were drooping even as she spoke, her words had slowed considerably. She didn't sound believable at all..  
"_Even _I'd_ think I was drunk.." _  
'Yeah yeah, girl. Never mind, let's just get you back to old Bumbys' place. Come on deary, put one arm over me. That's one step at a time.'  
'I don't need you to baby me, Nan. I'm most certainly not becoming a drunkard like Pris. I just need to rest.'  
'Oh calm yerself, Alice. Accept a helpful hand when it's offered once in a while will yeh!'  
that silenced Alice for a moment.  
At first it was bitter silence, "_I would if anyone who didn't have the notion to use me, offered to help. But... then again I probably wouldn't trust them anyway. People only look out for themselves."  
_Nan sharpe noticed the tension in the silence. 'Ah I'm sorry m'dear. I know it hasn't exactly been easy for you to trust anyone, between being thrown about, being used by people for their own selfish gains and whatnot. But I just mean, I want you to be safe.'  
'I know Nan.' Alices' cold tone softened. 'I know.'

They lapsed into silence again as Nan Sharpe helped Alice along. They reached Houseditch got up the step and through the wide, tall doors without any furthur conversation. It wasn't awkward or bitter this time, just silence.

'Oi look! It's Miss nuh'er!' a child voice called out when they entered the building. A weedy, ruddy-faced boy, no older then eight was standing at the door.  
'Bugger off with yeh, little scalliwag!' Nan ordered. But the boy just spitefully stuck his tongue out at Nan Sharpe.  
'I don't have to take orders from a fat old slapper like YOU!'  
'Oi! Watch yer mouth, boy, or so help me! Now piss off!'  
'YOU piss off! I can say what I like! No one tells me what to do! Old bag-'  
'JONATHAN!' The boy jumped at the sudden shout over his and Nans spat. It had come from behind him, to the left and down the hall. There was a fast paced sound of hard heels clacking off the floor boards, growing louder as they approahed the boy. The boy stood there staring dumbly at the on-comer.  
'WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF BED?! GET BACK TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW!'  
Alices' head was killing her as it was, but it pounded even more at the familiar shrill shouting of Nurse Strident. She sighed and groaned irritably.  
The nurse appeared at the door behind the boy, roughly grabbing hold of his arm. 'This is the last I let you off so easily-' it was just then that she caught sight of the two standing a few feet away from the doorway that the boy stood before. She straightened, a cold look crossed her pointed stern features as she scrutinised Nan Sharpe and the figure half leaning on her shoulder. Nurse Strident was a very thin and tall woman, often known by the children as the Skeletricks. A skeletal woman who was full of tricks. And not any particular nice tricks either.  
'Who are you?' she asked coldly, looking distastfully down her nose at Nan sharpe and her revealing clothes. It was quite obvious that Nan was a prostitute, and this bothered Nurse Strident. A lot.

'I'm helpin' this one to her room. Found her out and about on the street, she looked a bit tired so I'm makin' sure she gets some'ing to eat and then to sleep.' Nan said standing straight and, though a full head shorter then the nurse, stood tall meeting the nurses' cold eyes. Alice raised her head groggily to see the two head-strong women have their staring match.  
'Oh really. And why would a whore care to do such a thing?'  
'Yeah! She IS a whore aint she!' the ratty looking boy perked up.  
'JONANTHAN!' Nurse Strident whipped her head round realising he was still there, and then icily, 'To bed with you..'  
The boy complied, nodding his head vigorously and then scuttling off to the boys dorm.  
'Nurse Strident, this is Nan Sharpe. She was just helping me to my room.' Alice explained barely holding back the tired irritation in her voice. 'She'll be gone as soon as I've gotten to my room.' She met the icy glare of the nurse.  
Nurse Strident then turned to Nan. 'Right then get her to bed. But only that, then I want you out imediately, wench!' With a sneer the nurse turned and started to shout at a few more children, chastising them to their correct dorms.

Alice and Nan let out exasperated sighs in unison. 'Good lord, what a pain in the arse, that one!'  
Nan looked at Alice. 'Oh dear, yer lookin' worse by the minute. Come on dear.' With that Nan led Alice to her room and layed her on her bed. Alice pulled the scrawny blanket over her. Her stomach growled.  
'When was the last time you ate?' Nan asked standing over her hands on hips.  
Alice huffed, 'Uhh, don't remember. I'll go to the lunch cafeteria in a bit and get some bread or something.'  
'Like arse, you will. Wait here, hun, I'll go grab something.' Nan turned and made for the door.  
'But you don't even know where-' but she'd already disappeared from the room. Alice lay there completely sapped of her energy. _"Silly old bat. Though I suppose now that I think of it, I think the last time I ate was yesterday mornings' breakfast. No wonder I lost my energy so fast. How stupid, Alice! But then, it wasn't exactly within my control. After all thats happened." _She turned over on her side, facing the door. _"Shes probably gotten herself lost, the fool. I would have been fine. I wouldn't have minded waiting for tomorrows breakfast in the cafeteria."  
_Alice lay there still fully clothed in her bed with only her shoes taken off and throwm onto the ground, stomach growling and aching from the hunger pains. Her whole body started to ache from tiredness that came over her. She was emotionally drained.

She was just begining to drift into a deep sleep when Nan returned with two chunks of buttered breadin one hand and a wooden beaker of milk in the other.  
Alices' brow creased in confusion, eyes almost widened enough to show her shock.  
'Nan! How...? How did you know where... Is- is that.. butter? Where... They don't give us butter... or milk for that matter! Where did you get that?!'  
'Sh sh! Never mind that girlie. Here eat that down. Not too fast mind, don't want you gettin sick either.'Alice tentatively took one of the bread slices and bit into it. Nan placed the wooden beaker of milk on the small bedside table next to Alices' bed.

'Nan... really, how did you-'  
'I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Got into the staff kitchens. Nicked some butter and milk. Not enough to be missed, so don't you be worryin' ' Nan winked, a proud smile on her face as she pulled up the small chair placed beside the old wardrobe, and sat down next to the bed.  
_"Most likely exacting some revenge against Nurse Strident..." _ Alice thanked her though, Nan was the only person in this rut of a place that cared any bit for her. She ate her buttered crusty-bread, relishing the taste of proper butter, and gulped down the milk. Her mood had lightened considerably after this. Nan ate the other slice of bread.  
'well then' Nan said, brushing crumbs off her hands. 'I'd better get going before it gets too late. Jack'll be missin' me...'  
'Nan!' Alice suddenly sat up, she wanted to tell Nan about Dr. Bumby. The words were all there... but she stopped herself. Should she tell her about Bumby? About all he'd done? Or more importantly about his untimely death?  
Would Nan support her or send her straight off to the Asylum with the London police toeing her along.  
'What is it hun?'  
'Uhh... ' No it was mad. Stupid even, to think that Nan sharpe would or even could support on this. She was on her own and Nan had her own problems to be dealing with anyhow.

'Dr. Bumby is dead. I killed him...' 


	3. Chapter 3

**Three.  
**

Nan Sharpe, shot up form the chair, almost knocking it, shock widening her tired eyes.

_"To hell with it, I need her help... I just hope she'll listen...Im going to need all the help I can get to do what i need to do."_

'A-Alice, stop it! That's not funny child!' Nans' voice shook a bit.  
'Have you ever known to make a joke, Nan... Please, listen it's not what you think. Dr. Bumby deserved it, he.. he was – the things he was doing Nan! I had to stop him'  
'Alice... Do you realise how this sounds?!'  
'I know. I know Nan, but I need you to believe me, Angus Bumby was a bad man. He was selling his patients to slavery and the whore houses!' Alice couldn't help it, it all just began to spill out.

"_This isn't at all how I planned on telling her." _

'Alice, you're tired. Just go to sleep. Please!' Nan placed her hands on Alice' shoulders and pushed back, urging her to lie down and sleep.  
'You've just been dreamin' up stuff again.' She pulled away. 'Whatever's happened to Dr. Bumby, I'm sure it wasn't your fault.. now please go to sleep Alice. You feel better in the mor-'  
'NO! Nan, you need to listen to me!' Alice just sat up again, grabbing the big ladys wrist, not ungently. 'Nan' She looked straight into Nan Sharpes eyes, pleading. 'Just hear me out... I need your help...'  
Nan Sharpe looked back at the skinny, green eyed girl before her, worry, guilt and pity creased her features.  
'Alice , I can't help you... I-I'm sorry. I thought you were sharper then this, girl. If-If what you say is true then...' She sighed, eyes dropping to the floor. 'then you'd best pack up and leave this place as soon as you can.' Nan Sharpe then pulled herself free of Alice' grip and left the room, shutting the door behind her. She left Alice. Alice was alone.  
All the girl could do was stare blankly at the door.

_"I'm such an idiot! I'm such a FOOL!"_ She thumped her fist on the mattress, turning from the door. Drawing her knees up to her, she buried her face and wrapped her arms around her legs. _"Why did I think that was a good idea?... Nan can't help me, of coarse she can't... But I just... just had to know." _She lifted her head and rested her chin on her knees. 'And now I do...'

She woke the next morning feeling slightly more refreshed, but still emotionally drained remember the events of last night. She sat glumly on the edge of her bed. Nan couldn't help her. Nobody could. She'd have to leave and remain undercover for a while and then try to find a way to save those who still have a chance to be saved...  
'Oh who do I think I'm fooling! There's nothing I can do... I'll have to just leave. It's time to start a new life, away from this god forsaken place.'

Alice pushed herself off the bed. She knelt and dug under her bed and pulled out an old, worn, brown suitcase, its corners and edges had a few burn marks on it. A momentum she'd grabbed from the remnants of her burned house before she was taken away.  
Placing it on top of the bed she flipped the two latches and opened the lid.

'ALICE!' A rabbits head shouted from the inside of the case. Alice yelped, throwing herself backwards. She landed painfully on her back and elbows.  
'What?!...what w-w-wha-...' she stayed their panting, heart thumping in her chest. Through her heavy breathing she shakily spoke, 'Wh-White Rabbit?.. ' she pushed herself up, but kept her distance. She stood on her tip-toes looking back into the suitcase.  
Empty.  
_"White Rabbit... why?..." _She stepped toward the bed again, and touched the case. _"I must be truly going mad... maybe Nan is right."_  
She shook her head, turned to her wardrobe and gathered her scant amount of personal belongings. Next she headed for the cafeteria, where all the orphans received their breakfast and dinner, both dishes generally consisting of the same stale bread, moldy cheese and watery soup with no taste. Sometimes if the they were lucky dinner would include a small chunk of chewy meat and mushy green vegetables that didn't seem very edible. When she entered the long, dingy, grey dining hall she passed through the quickly filling long benches of orphans. At the left corner of the hall was a set of doors that led to the kitchen and storage area. She checked the roster stuck on the wall beside the doors. _"My shift isn't 'til tomorrow morning, but if anyone asks I can easily say I got it mixed up or something.. It's not likely anyone will care enough to ask anyway..."_ She pushed through the doors, grabbed a white coverall from the wrack on the wall to the left, pulled her arms through the sleeves and then buttoned it up. Next she grabbed a hairnet and tucked her hair into it.  
She then made her way to the tiny storage room in the back, closing the door behind her. No one was in here. No one saw her. Perfect. She set about the room grabbing two loaves of bread and cut a large chunk of cheese, wrapped them all in a discarded potato sack and tied it off. At the other end of the cramped square room was a ratty wooden door, that was always locked, but that wasn't what Alice looked at. On either side of the old door were two small windows, too small for a person to climb through, but perhaps just big enough to shove the bag of food through. The latch and hinges were stiff, but after much working on them they cam loose. Alice stuffed the bag of foods out side and closed the window again. The leaving the room she glanced briefly to the other roster workers. All had their heads down focused on their work. To her right was the double doors she'd come through. She just took a step towards them when a voice stopped her in her tracks.  
'Wait! Alice!'

"_oh no, no what! What could anyone possible want! Leave me alone!..."  
_Slowly she turned to the voice. It was Marianne, a weedy girl of about fourteen with long greasy blonde hair.  
'What is it, Marianne?' said Alice politely, she never knew much of Marianne to well, but she was one of the least annoying people in this building. She was hard working and never asked for too much.  
'Could you grab a bag of potatoes from the storage room? I have to serve the soup before peeling duty.  
'O-oh yes. Of coarse...' Alice turned, awash with relief, back to the storage room. She grabbed the first sack of potatoes close to hand and left them near the chopping counter. Before any one else could ask of anything, Alice whipped off the coverall and hairnet, hung them back up on the wracks and left the cafeteria.

When she got back to her room she went to her window and pryed it open, glad for the first that her room faced the back of the building. Peeking outside to the yard to make sure no one was out there, namely the groundskeeper. The coast was clear. She started to clamber out the window, keeping careful of her footing. Reaching out with her hand and foot, she lowered herself all the way down to the ground from the drain pipe. This was easier when she'd been a child, she had always been a nimble climber. _"Hopefully I'll be able to get back up again without too much trouble..."_

When she hit the ground, she kept low, mindful of the windows, ran to the corner with the locked storage room back door in the corner of the groundskeepers shed yard, and there below one of the windows, the bag of food. She grabbed it and got back to the drain pipe just about clambering to her own window again. Brushing herself off she sighed in relief, panting a bit from the exertion of the climb back up.  
walking to the suit case she dumped in the sack of bread and cheese, closed and picked up the suit case from her bed. Then she threw on a long mud coloured cloak with a large hood on it.

On her way out she stopped and looked back at her room, if it had seemed bare even with the pictures and drawings on the walls, it was even barer now.  
"_No, no looking back now. It's time to leave." _

Leaving the building had been surprisingly easy, she hadn't bumped into anyone on her way out, though she still hid whenever she heard a noise. It was still quite early morning, so she supposed that most would be still in the cafeteria still eating or on clean duties.

When she got outside, she headed straight towards Moorgate station. _"It's risky going back I know, but nobody should suspect anything yet. I shouldn't see any Bobbies yet... surely..."_


End file.
